Accounting treatment of carbon credits: an analysis according to the standards from the Committee of Accounting Pronouncements

Abstract

The objective of this research is to present the accounting treatment regarding generating and purchasing carbon credits, based in the accounting pronouncements issued by the Accounting Pronouncements Committee (APC). Through literature search covering APC’s rules and regulations, the accounting models for carbon credits stipulated by the specialized literature, the conceptual aspects of the Kyoto Protocol, and, especially, the demonstration of the process of implementing projects of Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), it was possible to develop a proposal to register the carbon credits generated by the CDM projects developed by companies in developing countries. When conducting a survey of APC’s accounting pronouncements related to the activity of implementing CDM projects, we obtained four ccounting pronouncements, which are: CPC-04 R1-16 R1 CPC, CPC and CPC-38-39. Based on the results, we concluded that the carbon credits generated by the company meet the definition of intangibility; however, the company which generates them with the intention of marketing it in the short-term attributes the feature of a financial asset to such assets. Thus, the company generating carbon credits with the intention to sell them, it is suggested that they should be accounted for in specific account in the current assets as a financial instrument available for sale.